How To Complete The Freehold Dungeon In WoW: Dragonflight

One of the most popular dungeons available in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Freehold takes the classic pirate aesthetic to a whole new level. Hailing from the Battle for Azeroth expansion, the instance has you contending with the Irontide Pirates and their maniacal leader, Harlan Sweete.

RELATED: World Of Warcraft: Dragonflight – The Vortex Pinnacle Complete Dungeon Walkthrough

A straightforward yet enjoyable dungeon, Freehold certainly ranks as one of the best instances in the modern era of WoW. This guide will take you through how to navigate and complete the Freehold dungeon. All enemies will be discussed, alongside displaying the best route and all available loot drops.

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Skycap Trash

The first pull of Freehold is typically a large one. You can pull the first three packs together with Bloodlust for a big burst of trash percentage.

Remember to watch out for the Irontide Enforcers, especially on Bolstering weeks, as their Shattering Bellow will deal high damage.

Afterwards, you can sneak around the right side of the upper level, dragging the single pack around the pillar near the first boss’ arena to line of sight it.

Until the first boss is defeated, Squawks will periodically bombard your party with Vile Coating, unleashing a nasty puddle of parrot guano that deals high damage if you remain inside its area.

Enemy	Ability	Description	Strategy
Irontide Enforcer x3	Brutal Backhand	High Physical damage frontal cone.	Dodge the white frontal.
Irontide Enforcer x3	Shattering Bellow	Inflicts High Physical damage to all players and interrupts any spell casts.	Avoid casting while this ability finishes. A good time to use personal defensives.
Irontide Mastiff x4	Bestial Wrath	Buff that increases this enemy’s Physical damage by 50 percent for one minute.	Try to Soothe this Enrage effect, as although having low health this enemy can deal deceptively high damage.
Irontide Mastiff x4	Crippling Bite	Tank hit that also slows movement speed by 30 percent.	Use a Tank defensive.
Irontide Crackshot x2	Azerite Grenade	Throws a big AoE bomb that deals high Fire damage to any player hit.	The AoE is quite big so focus on running out of it as soon as possible.
Irontide Crackshot x2	Shoot	Randomly shoots a player for low Physical damage.	Only dangerous on Fortified and Bolstering weeks.
Irontide Bonesaw x3	Healing Balm	Cast that heals an ally for 30 percent maximum health over six seconds.	This is your priority interrupt in these packs.
	Infected Wound	Reduces healing taken by 20 percent.	Dispel this Disease effect.
	Filthy Blade	Nasty Tank hit that deals Physical damage and applies Infected Wound.	Good time for a personal, especially if nobody in your group can dispel Diseases.
Irontide Corsair x5	Saber Rattle	Standard Physical damage hit.	Nothing special.

Skycap’n Kragg

The first boss of Freehold is a very simple encounter, although he does deal high damage with his limited abilities.

In Phase One, Skycap will fight atop his mount; Squawks. He will only have two abilities during this phase, so dodge the charge and heal up anyone who gets shot.

His second phase begins at 75 percent and sees you facing Skycap on the ground. Focus on spreading out and dodging any incoming Dive Bombs and you will be fine.

Ability	Description	Strategy
Charrrrge	Charges at a random player, dealing Physical damage to anyone caught in the blast zone.	Dodge the white swirlie.
Revitalizing Brew	Chugs a brew, healing for an increasing amount of health over five seconds.	Interrupt this asap.
Pistol Shot	Shoots a random player.	This can be nasty on Tyrannical weeks, so try to quickly spot-heal people.
Azerite Powder Shot	Blasts a player for Fire damage, leaving a DoT and hitting any players within the shot’s hitbox.	Stay spread out around the boss, so only one player gets hit at a time.
Dive Bomb	Squawks charges across the arena dealing huge Physical damage to any player hit.	The parrot will periodically appear at the edge of the arena, flying straight across. Run to the side when you see him land.
Vile Coating	Random players will be targeted by a pool of green parrot guano, dealing Nature damage to anyone inside and slowing them.	Run out of the green puddles.

Council Trash

After beating Skycap’n Kragg, head over the long rope bridge, dragging the single Irontide Enforcer with you.

You can then sneak through the right side of the town pulling only a couple of packs, before jumping down into the next boss arena.

Try to clear up the packs at the sides before tackling the boss, as you will want some room to manoeuvre.

Enemy	Ability	Description	Strategy
Irontide Enforcer x1	Brutal Backhand	High Physical damage frontal cone.	Dodge the white frontal.
Irontide Enforcer x1	Shattering Bellow	Inflicts High Physical damage to all players and interrupts any spell casts.	Avoid casting while this ability finishes. A good time to use personal defensives.
Vermin Trapper x2	Rat Traps	Throws traps at random players, placing a small AOE on the ground after a delay. These traps root players and inflict a nasty five-second Bleed.	Avoid the blue circles. You should always have time due to the high delay.
Irontide Oarsmen x1	Sea Spout	Water erupts under every player, bursting after a small delay for high Frost damage and a large knock-up.	Remain vigilant for this and don’t try greed a cast. Move immediately and avoid fighting these enemies in narrow choke points such as a bridge.
Blacktooth Brute x2	Earth Shaker	Smashes the ground to inflict AoE Physical damage to players within four yards.	This has a very small radius so position yourself at a reasonable melee range and you should be fine.
Cutwater Duelist x1	Duelist Dash	Charges to a random player, inflicting Physical damage and stunning any players caught in the path.	The stun is the worst part of this ability, so avoid standing between this enemy and their chosen target.
Freehold Shipmate x1	None	None	Cleave down these non-elites.
Soggy Shiprat x8	Bestial Wrath	Buff that increases this enemy’s Physical damage by 50 percent for one minute.	Try to Soothe this Enrage effect, as although having low health this enemy can deal deceptively high damage.
Soggy Shiprat x8	Scabrous Bite	Stacking healing reduction effect onto your Tank.	These enemies have low health so quickly burst them down unless it’s Bolstering week.
Freehold Deckhand x4	None	None	Cleave down these non-elites.
Bilge Rat Buccaneer x1	Goin’ Bananas	Inflicts high Physical damage to all players in a five-yard radius over seven seconds.	Move out of the yellow circle or crowd control this enemy to stop the ability.
Bilge Rat Swabby x1	Slippery Suds	Inflicts a debuff onto players that causes their jumps to stun them for two seconds.	Avoid jumping.
Bilge Rat Brinescale x1	Water Bolt	Standard Frost damage cast.	Spare interrupts can go onto this, but prioritise Frost Blast.
Bilge Rat Brinescale x1	Frost Blast	AoE Frost damage cast that also slows players’ movement speed.	This deals very high damage and should always be kicked.
Cutwater Knife Juggler x3	Ricocheting Throw	Light AoE Physical damage.	Just heal through this.
Blacktooth Knuckleduster x1	Shattering Bellow	Inflicts High Physical damage to all players and interrupts any spell casts.	Avoid casting while this ability finishes. A good time to use personal defensives.

Council O’ Captains

The second boss is a double fight, seeing you take on Captain Eudora and Captain Raoul. One will focus on ranged gunshots, while the other smashes barrels into the ground.

The key to this fight is utilising the incoming barrel tosses. Blue barrels will provide you with a large stat buff, while the Green will place a DoT on either you or the boss.

Try to position the boss inside the Green swirlies while standing in the Blue ones.

Always focus on Captain Eudora, as the fight becomes trivial after she has been defeated.

Ability	Description	Strategy
Grapeshot	Eudora jumps to a corner of the arena and blasts AoE shots from left to right, dealing High Fire damage and leaving behind a DoT.	Always move to the right side of the boss when she jumps, and run behind her to avoid taking any shots.
Powder Shot	Fires at a random player, dealing Physical damage.	Spot heal whoever is affected.
Barrel Smash	Large Physical damage AoE channel that also knocks players back.	Run out of the big brown circle.
Blackout Barrel	Throws a barrel at a random player, disorienting them until freed.	Nuke down the barrel to free the player or use an immunity to escape.

Ring Trash

Ring Of Booty Trash In Game Models And Map Route In World Of Warcraft

After beating the Council, move right, clearing out packs on your way to the Ring of Booty. There is potential for some large pulls here, so you might want to try Bloodlusting to save some time.

While the role-play is going on, you can keep pulling trash to avoid standing around. Ludwig counts as trash, so if you time your pulls with the event, you can make up a lot of time in this section.

After the event begins, you will need to catch a greased pig, Lightning, which can be done solo or by the party. After that, there is a delay before Ludwig spawns, so you have time to kill a pack. Kill Ludwig then pull another pack while you wait for the real boss.

A player with Stealth should sneak through and begin the Ring of Booty role-play event by talking to the NPC in the middle of the arena.

Enemy	Ability	Description	Strategy
Bilge Rat Buccaneer x4	Goin’ Bananas	Inflicts high Physical damage to all players in a five-yard radius over seven seconds.	Move out of the yellow circle or crowd control this enemy to stop the ability.
Cutwater Harpooner x6	Dragging Harpoon	Pulls a random player to this enemy and inflicts low Physical damage.	This ability is only really a problem in combination with ground effects such as Ground Shatter, so try to crowd control this enemy if such an ability is being cast.
Blacktooth Knuckleduster x4	Shattering Bellow	Inflicts High Physical damage to all players and interrupts any spell casts.	Avoid casting while this ability finishes. A good time to use personal defensives.
Blacktooth Scrapper x7	Blind Rage	Fixates a random player and charges towards them, increasing this enemy’s Physical damage done by 50 percent.	This effect can be Soothed, but if not, just kite or crowd control this enemy as they do not move very quickly.
Irontide Crusher x1	Boulder Throw	Throws a large rock, dealing high Physical damage and knocking down any player hit.	Dodge the big brown swirlie.
Irontide Crusher x1	Ground Shatter	A large AoE stomp that deals high Physical damage and knocks back any player hit.	Run out of the big brown circle.
Bilge Rat Brinescale x6	Water Bolt	Standard Frost damage cast.	Spare interrupts can go onto this, but prioritise Frost Blast.
Bilge Rat Brinescale x6	Frost Blast	AoE Frost damage cast that also slows players’ movement speed.	This deals very high damage and should always be kicked.
Cutwater Knife Juggler x6	Ricocheting Throw	Light AoE Physical damage.	Just heal through this.
Ludwig Von Tortollan x1	Shell Bounce	Throws a spinning shell that will continuously bounce around the arena, dealing high Physical damage to players hit.	Dodge the shells, trying not to position yourself close to a wall.

Ring Of Booty

The Ring of Booty is a three-part event, but only the last NPC, Trothak, is a real boss. The key to this fight is properly kiting the sharks through the Chum pools, as they will annihilate you in melee.

Ranged players should focus on shark management, as you do not want a shark aggroed onto your Tank.

Ability	Description	Strategy
Ripper Punch	Punches a random nearby player, dealing Physical damage and leaving behind a nasty 12-second Bleed.	This player will need spot healing.
Shark Tornado	Spins, dealing Physical damage in a nine-yard radius	Run out of the big white circle.
Shark Toss	Throws a shark at a player, which will deal impact damage and begin to chase them.	The shark will aggro onto the nearest player, so ranged should try to kite the sharks away from melee as much as possible.
Rearm	Charges to a shark, reattaching it to his arm and dealing low Physical damage to players caught in the path.	Very light damage but try to position yourself out of the way of the sharks, especially if in melee.
Throw Chum	Throws a bloody pool at a player, which deals ticking damage to anyone inside.	Kite the sharks over these chum pools to slow their movement and consume the pool.

Harlan Trash

Harlan Sweete Trash In Game Models And Map Route In World Of Warcraft

Upon killing Trothak, head back the way you came, and run across the long rope bridge. You only have three packs to go, but they can be nasty if not properly managed.

Utilise your interrupts and avoid being hit by Sea Spout. The pack before Harlan is quite large, so don’t be afraid to use some cooldowns.

Enemy	Ability	Description	Strategy
Irontide Oarsmen x1	Sea Spout	Water erupts under every player, bursting after a small delay for high Frost damage and a large knock-up.	Remain vigilant for this and don’t try greed a cast. Move immediately and avoid fighting these enemies in narrow choke points such as a bridge.
Irontide Buccaneer x3	Blade Barrage	AoE Physical damage within four yards.	Move out of the white circle or crowd control this enemy to stop the ability.
Irontide Ravager x2	Painful Motivation	Increases the damage done to all nearby enemies by 50 percent but also inflicts a maximum health DoT to them.	Letting this ability go off will increase the speed that the enemies die, but if it is too much incoming damage to handle, then just interrupt it.
Irontide Stormcaller x3	Lightning Bolt	Standard Nature damage cast.	Use spare interrupts on this, but make sure you have one for Thundering Squall.
Irontide Stormcaller x3	Thundering Squall	Channels a storm which inflicts Nature damage to all players.	Your priority interrupt.
Irontide Officer x2	Painful Motivation	Increases the damage done to all nearby enemies by 50 percent but also inflicts a maximum health DoT to them.	Letting this ability go off will increase the speed that the enemies die, but if it is too much incoming damage to handle, then just interrupt it.
Irontide Officer x2	Oiled Blade	Tank buster that deals Fire damage and applies a 75 percent healing reduction for eight seconds.	Dispel this debuff asap.
Irontide Enforcer x1	Brutal Backhand	High Physical damage frontal cone.	Dodge the white frontal.
Irontide Enforcer x1	Shattering Bellow	Inflicts High Physical damage to all players and interrupts any spell casts.	Avoid casting while this ability finishes. A good time to use personal defensives.
Irontide Mastiff x2	Bestial Wrath	Buff that increases this enemy’s Physical damage by 50 percent for one minute.	Try to Soothe this Enrage effect, as although having low health this enemy can deal deceptively high damage.
Irontide Mastiff x2	Crippling Bite	Tank hit that also slows movement speed by 30 percent.	Use a Tank defensive.

Harlan Sweete

Harlen Sweete In Game Model In World Of Warcraft

The final boss is relatively simple, so focus on dodging mechanics and crowd-controlling the Irontide Grenadier. Try to limit your movement to avoid covering the arena in fire puddles, and watch out for sneaky Whirlwind Sabers.

Ability	Description	Strategy
Cannon Barrage	Fires a series of delayed blasts at a player’s location, which deals Fire damage and leaves behind a pool of fire.	Stutter step in a circle, as you can minimize the amount of ground taken up by the puddles.
Whirling Dagger	Throws a dagger at a random player, dealing Physical damage and applying a Bleed.	Spot heal the affected players.
Swiftwind Saber	Fires a tornado forward that deals Nature damage and knocks back any player hit.	Dodge the white tornado.
Irontide Grenadier	This add will charge a random player, exploding on contact in a big Fire AoE or after a few seconds.	Crowd control this add and let it blow up on its own. If it gets free, kite for your life.
Loaded Dice	Previous abilities now affect all players.	Dodge more white tornados, dodge more red swirlies, and heal up more bleeds.

Freehold Loot

Skycap’n Kragg
Item	Slot	Stats
Sharkbait’s Fishhook	One-Handed Strength Mace	Versatility, Crit
Parrotfeather Cloak	Back	Crit, Mastery
Silk Cuffs of the Skycap’n	Cloth Wrists	Versatility, Mastery
Sharkbait Harness Girdle	Plate Waist	Haste Versatility
Kragg’s Rigging Scalers	Leather Feet	Crit, Mastery
Council o’ Captains
Item	Slot	Stats
Jolly’s Boot Dagger	Agility Dagger	Versatility, Mastery
Captain’s Diplomacy	Gun	Versatility, Crit
Concealed Fencing Plates	Plate Wrists	Versatility, Crit
Raoul’s Barrelhook Bracers	Mail Wrists	Haste, Versatility
Sailcloth Waistband	Cloth Waist	Crit, Haste
Silver-Trimmed Breeches	Leather Legs	Mastery, Haste
Seal of Questionable Loyalties	Ring	Haste, Crit
Ring of Booty
Item	Slot	Stats
Jeweled Sharksplitter	Two-Handed Sword	Haste, Versatility
Sea Dog’s Cuffs	Leather Wrists	Versatility, Haste
Bite-Resistant Chain Gloves	Mail Hands	Versatility, Haste
Greasy Bacon-Grabbers	Cloth Hands	Versatility, Crit
Sharkhide Grips	Leather Hands	Mastery, Versatility
Sharktooth-Knucked Grips	Plate Hands	Versatility, Haste
Chum-Coated Leggings	Cloth Legs	Mastery, Crit
Sharkwater Waders	Plate Legs	Mastery, Haste
Shell-Kickers	Mail Feet	Mastery, Crit
Harlan Sweete
Item	Slot	Stats
Sharkbait’s Favorite Crackers	Mount	N/A
Bloody Tideturner	One-Handed Agility Sword	Haste, Crit
Harlan’s Loaded Dice	Agility Trinket	Passive: Your attacks have a chance to grant you a random secondary stat buff

NEXT: World Of Warcraft: Dragonflight – Neltharus Complete Dungeon Walkthrough

Skycap Trash

Skycap’n Kragg

Council Trash

Council O’ Captains

Ring Trash

Ring Of Booty

Harlan Trash

Harlan Sweete

Freehold Loot

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